After crossing the bridge, Eden turned onto Highway 1 and headed south along Narragansett Bay. She’d drive until she found an inexpensive place to stay. Almost immediately she passed a small motel across the road from the water, then slowed the Mercedes and made a U-turn.

She pulled into the parking lot and drove up to the neon sign that indicated the office. Eden frowned. It wasn’t glamorous and it probably didn’t have room service or a masseuse on staff, but it was a start. She’d get a room, cut and dye her hair and make a plan. And tomorrow morning she’d begin her life all over again.

MARCUS GRABBED A BEER from the refrigerator in Ian’s kitchen, then leaned out the screen door. “You guys need another?”

Ian and Dec stood next to the grill, staring at the hamburgers that Ian was cooking for their dinner. “We’re good,” Ian shouted.

Marcus glanced at his watch again, wondering why it was taking so damn long to cook a few lousy hamburgers. He’d stopped by Ian’s simply to check in and waste an hour before heading back to Newport. But from the moment he’d arrived, he’d been preoccupied with thoughts of Eden. He wondered what Eden was doing, how she was feeling, whether she’d come to her senses and seen the truth of the situation or whether she was still angry at him.

He imagined how he’d make things right with her. There was a certain simplicity in taking her into his arms and kissing her until she surrendered. But he was also prepared to apologize for his harsh words and seduce her slowly. However it went, he was determined to get back to the place they’d been, that wonderful state of constant arousal and anticipation.

Marcus glanced over at his brothers, grateful they couldn’t read his thoughts. For now, what he shared with her was a tantalizing secret, something that defied description and analysis. He’d have to find a way come clean. But there was no way he could tell his brothers the truth of his life right now.

With Eden, he didn’t try to make sense of it. What had happened with her was a complete break from everything he’d known about desire. It was as if a giant wave had come and swept him out to sea, caught him in a current that was impossible to escape. He’d fought it at first, but then Marcus had realized that the only course was to surrender. To just let himself drown.

He sat down on the picnic table and bent forward, bracing his hands on his knees and staring at his beer bottle. When he touched her, it was pure pleasure. When she touched him, it was exquisite torment. When release finally came, it was a sensation that was unmatched in his lifetime.

He remembered his first experience with losing control at a girl’s touch. The world had seemed to shift on its axis, and from that moment on Marcus had known that sex was something he didn’t want to do without. But now, with Eden, he realized it was something he couldn’t live without.

There was only one partner he wanted, one person who could provide the kind of pleasure he sought. Eden had become his drug of choice, her body so addictive that he found himself barely existing between fixes. Marcus shook his head. How was it possible that he felt this way and they still hadn’t had sex yet?

“Hey! Are you planning to speak anytime soon?”

Marcus glanced up, pulled from his thoughts by Dec’s voice. He blinked. “What?”

“What’s wrong with you?” Dec asked.

“Nothing,” Marcus replied. “I’ve just…got some things on my mind.”

“Here’s a question,” Ian said. “Should a guy ever be completely honest with a woman? Or is it always better just to tell her what she wants to hear?”

“Always be honest,” Marcus said at the very same time Dec said, “Tell her what she wants to hear.” They glanced at each other.

“If you’re not honest, it’ll come back and bite you in the ass.”

“Have you been watching Dr. Phil again?” Ian asked.

“So you’d tell her that her hair looks like crap and her butt does look huge in those pants and that you’d rather drink varnish than have dinner with her parents?” Dec asked. “Hell, Marcus, you’d get kicked to the curb with the rest of the garbage. No wonder you can’t keep a woman.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about,” Marcus murmured. Hell, he didn’t know what he was talking about. All he knew was that he’d been honest with Eden and it had led to a relationship more intense than any he’d ever experienced. By stripping away all pretense, they’d had a chance to know each other in a very intimate way.

“I think there are very specific things you should never tell a woman,” Ian ventured. “Guy secrets. You know, those universal truths that all guys know but we need to keep to ourselves to preserve the future of the male species.”

“Like what?” Dec asked, clearly curious.

“Like when we look at other women, we really are looking at other women,” Ian said. “And thinking about what they’d look like naked.”

“And that no matter how many times a woman wants to have sex with you, it’s never gonna be enough,” Dec added. “And that no guy likes to cuddle after sex.”

Ian nodded. “And that we really do read Playboy for the pictures and not the stories. Universal truths.”

“Be honest. Have you ever been with a woman when you’ve been completely satisfied with the quality and frequency of the sex?” Ian asked.

Yes, Marcus mused. With Eden, even though they hadn’t actually had sex, he’d been completely satisfied. There was a certain excitement that came from the anticipation, waiting to share that final intimacy, thinking about having sex, even avoiding sex, that made the need more acute.

“I rest my case,” Ian said after weighing Marcus’s silence.

Marcus took a long sip of his beer, then shrugged. “Maybe none of us has found the right woman.” He glanced over at his brothers as they stared at him. “Yet.”

Ian groaned, rubbing his forehead with his fingertips. “Jaysus, Marky, this is what comes from being stuck on that boat all alone. You’re not making any sense. What’s wrong with you? You’re sounding like a bleedin’ romantic.”

“So that’s not what you want out of life?” Marcus asked.

“First off, you can’t talk to women, so how can you be honest with them? They have no capacity for logical reasoning. They’re driven by emotions. Let me tell you, getting into a real conversation with a woman is like stepping on a land mine. One stupid move, one offhand comment or misplaced adjective and-boom-you’re dead.”

“And you can’t depend upon women,” Declan continued. “They may have your back now, but the minute you don’t agree with them they’ll cut your legs out from under you. You want someone who’ll have your back? That’s what brothers are for.”

Marcus took another sip of his beer. In truth, he’d been thinking the same thing about Eden just a few hours ago. But that had been at the end of a brutally honest conversation, the kind of conversation that had exposed some pretty raw emotions. It may not have been a pretty argument or a fair fight, but at least it had been honest.

“Women are not the enemy,” Marcus said.

Ian stared at Marcus for a long moment. “Did you break the pact?”

“No!” he lied. “I’ve just figured out a few things for myself.”

But hadn’t the pact contained a fatal flaw? He and his brothers had assumed that the only way to figure out women was to stay away from them, to make a vow of celibacy and stick with it. But Marcus had learned more about women in the week he’d spent seducing Eden Ross than he’d learned in his previous twenty-seven years. She was a complicated, perplexing pain in the ass, but he knew her better than he’d ever known any other woman in his life.

“So are you planning to share with us?” Declan asked.

Marcus shook his head. “Not at the moment.”

A long silence descended on the group as Ian and Dec stood at the grill and stared into the fire. Marcus fought the urge to tell them everything, to explain it all in the hopes that they would be able to offer some explanation. To confess that he’d been the first to break their pact and succumb to the pleasures of the flesh.

But what had gone on between him and Eden defied description. Hell, he’d been trying to put words to it for days with no luck. “Any luck on finding that girl you were looking for, Dec?” he asked, anxious to shift the topic.

“Eden Ross?” Dec sat down on the picnic table next to Marcus. “Nothing yet.”

“Louise Wilson over at the diner mentioned that there were a couple of guys wandering around Bonnett Harbor asking if anyone had seen her,” Ian said. “They’re promising a big payday for information. Ten thousand for a tip that leads to a photo of Eden Ross. I’m thinking I ought to be out looking for her.”

“She must be close by then,” Dec said.

“Why do you say that?” Marcus asked.

“Those tabloid photographers usually know more than the local cops. They can afford to pay for information. And when it comes to celebrities, folks are anxious to talk, especially for cold, hard cash. I’ll just wait until they smoke her out and then I’ll grab her up and take her home to daddy.”

“What if she doesn’t want to go?” Marcus asked. “She’s an adult. She makes her own decisions.”

“Whose side are you on?” Dec asked. “It’s my job to find her. I don’t get paid unless I find her. Ross is your boss, too. Watch out for his interests and he’ll watch out for you.”

Marcus was starting to understand how the rest of the men in Eden’s life had felt. It was difficult to resist a woman who made him feel the way she did. All she had to do was touch him or look at him in a certain way, and he felt his desire begin to burn.

Dec poured a bit of his beer onto the charcoal as the flames licked at the burgers. “Hell, if I were Ross, I’d think about putting that girl in a convent, locking the door and throwing away the key. I wouldn’t mind getting a look at that tape, though. See what all the fuss is about.”